Welcome to the School of Education's newsletter, Sigma. You can access Sigma online at http://www.soe.umich.edu/sigma/index.html. If you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to mailto:SOENews at umich.edu. Deadline for submissions is noon on Wednesday. The next Sigma will be Friday, December 13, 2002.
Sigma Vol. XXXI, No. 38, December 6, 2002
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Index
1. SOE RANKED NUMBER ONE
2. NETTLES RECEIVES ASHE AWARD
3. SILVER VISITING SCHOLAR AT UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
4. UPCOMING ORAL DEFENSE
5. DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIPS
6. NEW GSI TEACHING ORIENTATION
7. LIBRARY NEWS
8. GELS FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE
9. SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE
10. POSITIONS AVAILABLE AT YMCA
11. U-M ONLINE DIRECTORY
12. GUARD YOUR BELONGINGS
13. INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL WARNING
14. NEED IT ASSISTANCE?
15. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES
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1. SOE RANKED NUMBER ONE
According to a recent article in the University Record, the School of Education is ranked number one nationally in a report for the Institute for Scientific Information examining the impact of research. The report "examined the citation impact of published research papers produced by the top 100 federally funded US universities from 1997-2001. While U-M was ranked in the top 10 in six other categories, SOE received the only number one ranking.
2. NETTLES RECEIVES ASHE AWARD
Prof. Michael Nettles was the 2002 recipient of the Outstanding Leadership in the Field of Education presented by the Association for the Study of Higher Education's Council on Ethnic Participation. The award was given at the recent ASHE meeting.
3. SILVER VISITING SCHOLAR AT UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
Prof. Ed Silver spent week in November as Visiting Scholar in the Department of Education at the University of Cyprus where he lecturing on mathematics teaching and learning. He was also the keynote speaker at a Cyprus Ministry of Education sponsored meeting focusing on the teaching of mathematical problem solving in grades 1-6.
4. UPCOMING ORAL DEFENSE
Candidate: Tim Boerst
Date: Wednesday, December 18
Time: 12:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Location: Brownlee Room, 2327 SEB
Chair: Prof. Magdalene Lampert
Dissertation Title: "Deliberate Professional Development Communities as Sites for Teacher Learning: The Teacher Reflection Group"
5. DISSERTATION COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIPS
* Guanglei Hong
Professor Stephen Raudenbush (Chair)
Professor Susan Murphy (Cognate: Statistics)
Professor David K. Cohen
Professor Frederick Morrison (Psychology)
Professor Brian Rowan
"Causal Inference for Multi-Level Observational Data with Applications to Educational Research"
* Orrin T. Murray
Professor David K. Cohen (Co-Chair)
Assistant Professor Barry Fishman (Co-Chair)
Associate Professor Martha Feldman (Cognate: Political Science)
Professor Ronald Marx
"Investigating Support for Emerging Structures: The Role of Instructional Technology in an Urban School District's Reform Effort"
6. NEW GSI TEACHING ORIENTATION
Date: Friday, January 3
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Location: Second Floor, Michigan League
The Center for Research on Learning and Teaching's (CRLT) GSI Teaching Orientation for Winter 2003 is open to all graduate students, although it is primarily designed to assist new GSIs in preparing for their first teaching experience. For more information, please contact Deborah Meizlish at mailto:debmeiz at umich.edu or 763-2396.
7. LIBRARY NEWS
**MIRLYN Changes
The MIRLYNWeb link now will take you directly to the blue and yellow box screen from which you can choose to go to Catalogs or Databases. At the same time, the system will check for prior validation. If you have a Library-assigned cookie, you will already be validated and your personal information will display at the top of the screen. If you do not have a Library-assigned cookie, you will automatically be signed on as a guest. During your guest session, if you need to login for MIRLYN services such as "Recall This Item," you can do so by clicking on the lock/login button at the top of the MIRLYNWeb page.
**New Online Reference Service
"Ask Us Now," a new University Library online reference service, uses instant message technology to connect the Library's online visitors with more than 40 experienced reference staff from Library locations across campus who can provide answers-often within a matter of a couple of minutes! Faculty, staff, and students working in any of the Library's facilities, campus computing sites, offices, or at home can easily launch a chat session by selecting the "Ask Us Now" button or any link to the related service. When the transaction is completed, the entire transcript of the chat session is sent to the participant via email. "Ask Us Now" is available 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 a.m., Sunday-Thursday and 1:00 - 5:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday.
**New Resource
The Michigan eLibrary (formerly AccessMichigan) statewide database program recently made LearningExpressLibrary's "LearnATest" available to all public institutions' libraries in Michigan at: http://learningexpresslibrary.com. An entry for LearnATest has been added to the Library's Networked Electronic Resources list at: http://www.lib.umich.edu/eresources. "LearnATest" provides online test preparation materials and interactive practice exams for academic, civil service, military, and professional licensing and certification exams, including the GRE, LSAT, GMAT, MCAT, Praxis: PPST, U.S. Citizenship tests, and many more. It also covers preparation for tests used in elementary and secondary education. -- Marija Freeland
8. GELS FELLOWSHIPS AVAILABLE
The application process for faculty and graduate student fellowships with the global the Global Ethnic Literatures Seminar (GELS) is open with a deadline of noon, Saturday, January 11. The Program in Comparative Literature is interested in scholars working on regional ethnicity, globalism, diaspora, some combination of them, issues of race and racism, diversity, and other pertinent areas. Application materials and eligibility requirements are online at: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/complit/GELS.html.
9. SCHOLARSHIP AVAILABLE
The Hillsdale County Community Foundation is offering the Beth Ann Blanchard Memorial Scholarship to graduates of any Hillsdale County or Detroit area school, regardless of age, who is pursuing a degree in the area of early childhood education. Complete information is available online at: http://www.soe.umich.edu/newsevents/hillscholar.html.
10. POSITIONS AVAILABLE AT YMCA
The Ann Arbor YMCA will be offering classes on Saturdays beginning January 11 at a school age facility in Dexter. The Y is seeking students to work on developing curriculum and lesson plans. Competitive pay and free YMCS membership is offering. The classes are:
--Adventure Book Club, 6-8 yrs, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
--Adventure Book Club, 9-12 yrs, 11:00-Noon
--Fun in the Kitchen*, 6-12 yrs, Noon-1:00 p.m.
*Children will learn how to create fun and healthy snacks that are easy to prepare.
--Creative Minds**, 6-12 yrs, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
** Children will create art and craft projects
Contact Sam Humphrey at mailto:shumphrey at annarborymca.org or at 663.0536 ext.226.
11. U-M ONLINE DIRECTORY
Reminder: It is necessary for each of us to update information in the U-M online directory. Please take a minute and make sure your directory entry is correct at http://directory.umich.edu.
12. GUARD YOUR BELONGINGS
Please be careful and when you leave your work area, make sure your personal belongings are secure in a locked office, file cabinet or drawer.
13. INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL WARNING
The U-M International Travel Oversight Committee has issued a memo regarding a US State Department Warning for persons traveling to Kenya, other parts of East Africa, and Nepal. Complete information about the travel advisory is available on the web at http://www.umich.edu/~icenter/overseas/travel.
14. NEED IT ASSISTANCE?
To get assistance in the SOE:
1) Come to the IRIS Resource Center, 2007 SEB, or call 764-5427.
As the front door to Technology Services, the Resource Center always has someone at the desk to answer questions or forward your request to someone who can.
2) Send email:
For assistance with U-M Resources:
1) Call 764-HELP or send email to mailto:online.consulting at umich.edu, for assistance with accessing the U-M network
2) Visit the web --
15. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES
Full minutes are available from Becki Spangler in the Dean's Office.
==November 5, 2002 Meeting
*Announcements/Updates
Dean Wixson reported that she has named an advisory committee for assistance in identifying a new Chair in Educational Studies. The soon to convene committee will determine the scope of the search (whether internal or external). Dean Wixson also advised that Brian Rowan is co-chairing the search committee for the Spencer Endowed Chair in Business and Education with Gerry Davis from the Business School. This will be the third and final year of this search.
*Continuing Budget Discussion
Eric Dey explained several handouts showing financial data for the first quarters from both FY 2002 and FY 2003. The handouts highlighted our revenue and expenditure patterns, showing deviations and significant change patterns. The good news is that about 6% less was spent in general funds this quarter than at the same time last year. Although undergraduate enrollment projections were not met in the first semester, they are likely to be more accurate for winter when the majority of the secondary students begin their certification programs.
*November Faculty Meeting
The Dean reported on her conversations with Ed Silver and Gary Fenstermacher about the continuation of discussions started at the October faculty retreat. A decision was made to use the November faculty meeting to describe next steps, some of which are already underway and others that are to be undertaken soon, with an eye towards a more substantive conversation at the December faculty meeting.
Dean Wixson also noted that a portion of the November faculty meeting will be devoted to further discussion of the equity and social justice initiative, and that this effort is also relevant to discussions about programmatic initiatives. A January 13, 2003 date has been set for a seminar to explore the relationship between pedagogy and social justice in education, and Luis Moll has tentatively agreed to participate as a discussant. A second seminar, to be organized by graduate students, is planned for March 2003.
Dean Wixson explained that the social justice initiative this is an outgrowth of the activities of the Diversity Task Force started several years ago and is focused primarily on making visible the intellectual thrust of the School's work around these issues. This is a necessary step in moving toward the recruitment of senior faculty of color. Committee members suggested that the Equity and Social Justice Committee might want to consider using other terms, such as access and opportunity, to describe this effort given the difficulty of defining the concept of social justice. They also cautioned that for an effort like this to succeed it must be perceived as an ongoing conversation reflecting a variety of perspectives. In addition, they recommended that the seminars be highlighted as a series and publicized well in advance, to summarize each seminar and to disseminate the summaries to keep the conversation going.
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Sigma is a weekly publication of the University of Michigan School of Education (bi-weekly during the summer). To subscribe to Sigma, please send an email to mailto:SOENews at umich.edu. SUBSCRIBE should be the subject. Deadline for submissions is noon on Wednesday. Please send items to mailto:SOENews at umich.edu. The next issue of Sigma will be Friday, December 13, 2002.